Construction of the natural gas pipeline in Carroll County will get under way no later than Oct. 19, following the Industrial Development Authority’s awarding of the contract to MasTec, Inc., during its Oct. 4 meeting. Three construction companies showed interest during the county’s pre-bid section of the process, but only two submitted bids, which were opened on Oct. 3. Classic bid $877,200, but MasTec, Inc., was chosen for the project with a low bid of $788,182.76.

County Administrator Gary Larrowe said the project has a completion deadline of “Dec. 31, 2012.” He added that if there were “extenuating circumstances we (the IDA board) would work with MasTec.”

Although the IDA selected Oct. 19 as the latest date to start the project, Earl Hagee of MasTec, was on hand for the meeting, and said he would “like to start by Oct. 15.”

The board then passed a motion, stating that MasTec could “proceed with the project as soon as all the contractual documentation was in place.”

The project consists of approximately 22,000 linear feet of six-inch line that will serve Mohawk Industries in Hillsville, as well as an interconnection to a main interstate gas line and a town border station. Other commercial and industrial customers in the vicinity of Hillsville may also be added later.

Hagee said that MasTec, which is heaquartered in Coral Gables, Fla., is the “master contractor for Roanoke Natural Gas.” During its Feb. 14 meeting, the IDA chose Roanoke Natural Gas as the line’s natural gas provider. In addition, Hagee said the company has “seven or eight major projects from North Dakota to Texas” under way.

“It’s a good day in Carroll County that we’re moving ahead with this,” noted Larrowe.

In other business, the board heard a report from Larrowe on the progress of the roads servicing Wildwood Industrial Park. Larrowe said the “Rt. 620 project will go into final design in January and we’re looking at the access road in the spring. He added that the IDA has been “granted $650,000 for this purpose,” and “no bid opening has been set.”